The new Suzuki Alto costs $14,990 drive away and is one of Australia's most economical cars, though it drinks premium unleaded petrol. By Steve Colquhoun.

Suzuki's new budget car has expensive diet

Suzuki has offered a mixed blessing to budget buyers in the market for a ‘micro’ car by wheeling out a sharply priced new model that has a thirst for expensive premium fuel.

The Suzuki Alto, Australia’s first four-seater in the new sub-light class, will sell for $14,990 drive-away for the base GX model, but the company says prolonged use of Australia’s cheapest and most readily available petrol, 91 RON, could actually void the manufacturer warranty.

Suzuki recommends using premium 95 RON as a minimum, slugging the car’s budget-conscious owners an additional 6-9 cents per litre. However, the Alto is expected to use just 4.8 litres per 100km in manual form, or 5.5L/100km with the optional automatic transmission, making it one of Australia’s most economical cars.

Despite the impost at the pump, Suzuki spokesman Andrew Ellis said Alto buyers would still be able to fill the car’s petrol tank for under $50 at today’s prices.

Suzuki executives explained at this week’s launch that the Indian-built car had been engineered to meet rigorous Euro V emission targets, and that it would cost too much to retro-fit the capability to run cheaper 91 RON fuel for the Australian market where sales of around 3000 cars per year are expected.

Mr Ellis said the car would run on 91 RON “at a pinch, if you get stuck in the bush somewhere that’s only got 91”.

“But it was designed to run on 95, if you run it on 91 you do risk lowering your performance, you will produce higher emissions, your fuel economy will suffer and ultimately the engine life will suffer,” he said.

The car’s three-year, 100,000km warranty could be rendered void by extensive use of the cheaper fuel, confirmed Suzuki technical operations manager Paul Vandenberg.

The 1.0-litre, three-cylinder Alto, while not the cheapest small car on the market, offers an impressive equipment list for the price with six airbags, anti-lock brakes, air-conditioning and an auxiliary jack as standard, but the base GL model – which Suzuki expects to account for 60 per cent of sales – misses out on stability control, even as an option. It’s standard fitment on the GLX model, which costs $2000 more but also includes alloy wheels and fog lights.

Suzuki general manager Tony Devers said Suzuki could not afford to offer stability control at the Alto’s starting price. “I know there’s a big push for ESP (stability control) but I think there’s always got to be a balance between price and specification and at this stage we just can’t get it in at that price,” he said.

Despite the certain arrival in Australia of other sub-light car competitors in the foreseeable future, Suzuki said it would only guarantee the Alto’s pricing for six months.

“We’re making a statement with the $12,490 [plus on-road costs] positioning of the car,” Mr Devers said. “The dollar favours us at the moment and six months is a long time. We’re running our own race and we’ll see what happens.”